NUTS-3 FRI15 · France
Population
717,4612025
GDP
€26,646M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.4%2025
Active firms
199,0292026
Cadastral parcels
1,107,4222026
Area
7,675.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRI15 · NL423
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zuid-Limburg (Opportunity 73). Runner-up: Pyrénées-Atlantiques (55). Contrarian pick: Pyrénées-Atlantiques — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 88).
Why you might not pick Zuid-Limburg
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 27) — Pyrénées-Atlantiques may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zuid-Limburg leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
55.4
73.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
70.5
51.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
57.0
60.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
69.3
65.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
28.3
78.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
74.3
78.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
44.6
48.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.4% 5y
0.3% 5y
Population
0.9% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.4% 5y
3.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€37,139
€48,695
Population density
93 /km²
906 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,544
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
277
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€23,797M
€26,227M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€457M
€137M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,387M
€3,961M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,751M
€3,187M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,636M
€1,011M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,704M
€5,754M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,000
€25,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
34,600 PPS
41,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€37,600
€48,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€30,151M
€11,196M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,628M
€1,560M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€68,404M
€26,730M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€4,525M
€2,032M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€545M
€846M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€7,567M
€6,823M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€6,046M
€7,948M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€23,897M
€24,214M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€87,827
€96,491
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€6,015M
€6,137M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
309,200
316,700
Self-employed persons
48,900
50,000
Employment in manufacturing (C)
30,100
26,800
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
79.0%
83.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
18.1%
6.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.7%
3.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
339,800
323,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
65,317
58,654
Enterprise births
8,014
4,953
Enterprise deaths
6,709
3,064
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.9%
6.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.8%
—
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.2%
3.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.2%
—
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
44.0%
37.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
53.3%
48.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
18.0%
22.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.7%
26.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.4%
10.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.6%
98.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
7,226,999
5,746,388
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
—
545 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,907
1,955
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,551 kt
11,431 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
21 km/1000km²
98 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
405
326
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
171
9
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
6
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
427,004
369,339
Population aged 65+
187,015
158,360
Population aged under 15
103,442
72,450
Median age of population
47.3 yrs
48.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
43.8%
42.9%
Crude rate of total population change
7.6 /1k
-0.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
10.7 /1k
5.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.5 /1k
7.1 /1k
Crude death rate
10.6 /1k
12.7 /1k
Live births
5,360
4,289
Deaths
7,558
7,607
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
68.0%
62.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.38
1.25
Population density (persons per km²)
93 /km²
922 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
696,301
576,883
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.6%
17.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.5 yrs
81.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.0%
14.4%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
545 /100k
—
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
807 /100k
1,066 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
222 /100k
249 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
—
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
37.8 /100k
33.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
354 /100k
208 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,406 /100k
1,385 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
57 /M
33 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.46
1.77
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.27
1.72
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.02
1.73
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.39
1.92
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.02
0.63
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.107/kWh
€0.142/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
354 m
87 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
12 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
28 days/yr
38 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
12 days/yr
2 days/yr